The decision to patent, cumulative innovation, and optimal policy

This paper analyzes optimal policy in the context of cumulative innovation in a model that endogenizes patenting decisions of early innovators. Secrecy can significantly decrease investment in the second innovation. We show that as the effectiveness of secrecy as a protection mechanism increases, which may be the case if the government has a strong trade secret policy or innovators can monitor the flow of their technological information, it becomes optimal to have broad patent protection over a larger parameter space. In cases when patent policy is ineffective in achieving disclosure, it is socially desirable to have a lenient antitrust policy and allow collusive agreements. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.